Two remarkable men come before us in Scripture whose good works were of a high order. The account of one we have in the Old Testament, and of the other in the New. We refer to Job and Paul.
Job
First then as to Job. Job was a thoroughly upright man and one that abhorred what was evil. And indeed no finer testimony can be rendered than what Jehovah Himself was pleased to give of him— “none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil.”
If we turn to Job’s own words—and they were not false words—we find some of the ways in which this perfectness and uprightness were seen. He was, as he says, a deliverer of the poor that cried, of the fatherless and friendless. An enemy of oppression he caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. He was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame—a father to the poor, and a patient investigator of wrongs and a fearless judge against wickedness. Hospitable and generous, he opened his doors to the traveler though a stranger to him. Idolatry found no place in his eyes, but was sternly refused—he walked in the fear of the one true God. All this was without hypocrisy—he was “perfect”—a truly converted man, and not a mere professor of religion. But however Job might cling to these good deeds and to his uprightness of heart—for he says, he put on righteousness and it clothed him; that he held it fast and would not let it go; that till he dies, his integrity he will not remove—yet when Jehovah speaks how different is Job’s language! “Behold, I am vile.” “I have spoken... but I will proceed no further.” He no longer cleaves to his good life and ways as satisfaction. “Now mine eye seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” What a change! Man’s best works will not do to boast in or rest upon before God, ever correct and beautiful in themselves. They are mixed with infirmity, “for there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Eccles. 7:2020For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)). Whatever Job might have thought as to his having whereof he might boast, learn that he had no such ground of works before God.
And, my dear reader, you and I have to stand before God! to give account to God! “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” says the “evangelical” prophet. There is only one safe standing ground, and that is the Rock of Ages—the Saviour Son of God. Are your feet upon that Rock? “For who is God save Jehovah? or who is a rock save our God?” “He only is my rock and my salvation.” “Whosoever believeth on him (the Lord Jesus) shall never be confounded.” “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” The Lord Jesus, in His words to Peter, speaks of Himself as “this rock.” So Peter, in his Epistle, says of this same Jesus, “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” to those who being disobedient stumble at the word. But unto those that believe He is indeed precious. May we then be ready to confess our nothingness, yea, our vileness. Then shall we prove the preciousness of the Saviour who died for our sins, and was raised for our justification. “Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood.”
Paul
Now we turn to Paul, the second of these men, whose history we have in the New Testament. He was known in his unconverted days as Saul of Tarsus. Although without divine life, he was not without religion. And we know too that he was anything but half-hearted in it. After the straitest sect of his religion he lived a Pharisee. Further, he was a most conscientious man in all that he did—and his outward service of God was from early days—as he says, “from his forefathers.” His parents being Jews had taken care that the Mosaic rite of circumcision in his case should be according to the due order. He was exceedingly zealous to suppress what he felt sure was opposed to the station and privileges of his race—nationally the only people of God on the earth. There had arisen in his day an entirely new association which the law of Moses did not acknowledge. The Jews were the designated people of God. They were Israelites, to them pertained “the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the [divine] service, and the promises.” Why then allow another and super-ceding religion? He verily thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and he did so. He acted in all good conscience; and he kept the law as far as its outward requirements were concerned. He was not an idolater nor an immoral man. He honored his parents and the sabbath. Yes, as touching righteousness which is in law, he himself says, he was blameless. Here then was one who might have had confidence before God if anyone could by works of man. But God’s word is plain. “By deeds of law (holy and just and good as it is) there shall be no flesh justified in his sight” (Rom. 3:2020Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20)).
But all this excellency as a Jew and good standing before his co-religionists, he found of no avail before God. The light of God’s word entered his soul. He found that this righteousness would not do. What things he had formerly considered a gain to him, he now discards on which to rest. He needs a better righteousness than man’s, however excellent. There is a righteousness of another class entirely, and this is through faith of Christ, “the righteousness which is [not of man, but] of God by faith.” This is not Christ’s righteousness in the sense of His perfection making up for my imperfection or shortcomings. He is indeed the righteous One—the Holy One of God. Had He not been this, He could not have been a sin offering— “it is most holy.” But God reveals His righteousness, which is the holy consistency of all His attributes in the justifying of the guilty sinner who rests all upon what Christ has suffered — “the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” This is faith. Not faith in self, but turning to, and confiding in, the only Righteous One. God has been so glorified in the laying down of Christ’s life in atonement for sins that His justice now secures not only the acquittal of, but the receiving into fullest favor, the poor sinner that stands solely upon the efficacy—the everlasting efficacy of Christ’s redemption. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin.
May the Spirit of God thus lead you to give up all confidence in self, so that you may be enabled to say, in the words of the apostle, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy HE SAVED us.”